Noted Flim-Flam artist and New Age motivational speaker, James Ray, who is a pal of Oprah, was paid a total of a half million bucks by 60 people so he could starve them for three days and then attempt to kill them in a stupid home made “Indian Sweat Lodge” in the hot afternoon in Sedona, Arizona.

The goal of this behavior? James Ray was promising that his suckers customers would “grow new neural pathways” to become enlightened in “harmonic wealth.”

Two people succumbed to their own stupidity inside the sweat lodge and croaked- Kirby Brown of Westtown, New York, and James Shore of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When I heard of James Shore, I was worried that it was the awesome artist who makes all of those painted Jim Shore creations. But no, it was the other Jim Shore, the dumbass marketing exec of Sunant, Interactive.

And amazingly, the press won’t question whether this new-age hokum is safe. In fact, they think it is an accident and go out of their way to point out that the dead moonbats were in good health and should be able to survive in a 140 degree dome without water for two hours crowded in with 60 other people after a three-day fast.

From the AP here:

A 38-year-old New York woman who died after sitting in a sauna-like sweat lodge at a scenic Arizona resort was an avid surfer and hiker who was “in top shape,” took self-improvement seriously and had a passion for art, a family spokesman said.

Kirby Brown of Westtown, N.Y., was one of two people who died Thursday evening after being overcome in the crudely built hut during a spiritual cleansing ceremony. Authorities on Saturday identified the other victim as 40-year-old James Shore of Milwaukee, who served as director of business development at an Internet marketing company in his hometown.

Nineteen other people were taken to hospitals, suffering from burns, dehydration, respiratory arrest, kidney failure or elevated body temperature. Most were soon released, but one remained in critical condition Saturday.

Brown had no pre-existing health conditions that would have kept her from participating in an otherwise safe activity, said cousin and family spokesman Tom McFeeley. That two people died and 19 others became ill at the Angel Valley Retreat Center indicates that “something went horribly wrong.”

Autopsies on Brown and Shore were conducted Friday, but the results weren’t disclosed pending additional tests. Authorities have ruled out carbon monoxide poising as the cause.

Yavapai County Sheriff Steve Waugh is focusing on self-help expert and author James Arthur Ray and his staff as they try to determine if criminal negligence played a role. Waugh said Ray refused to speak with authorities and has since left the state.

The Angel Valley Retreat Center (where the deaths occured) was rented by Ray for a five-day “Spiritual Warrior” retreat that promised to “absolutely change your life.” The people at Ray’s retreat, whose ages ranged from 30 to the 60s, paid between $9,000 and $10,000 to attend.

Ray and his staff constructed the temporary sweat lodge with a wood frame and covered it with layers of tarps and blankets, Waugh said. The sweat lodge — a structure commonly used by American Indian tribes to cleanse the body and prepare for hunts, ceremonies and other events — was 53 inches high at the center and about 30 inches high around the outer edges.

Between 55 and 65 people were crowded into the 415-square-foot space during a two-hour period that included various spiritual exercises led by Ray. Every 15 minutes, a flap was raised to allow more volcanic rocks the size of cantaloupes to be brought inside.

The participants had fasted for 36 hours as part of a personal and spiritual quest in the wilderness, then ate a breakfast buffet Thursday morning. After various seminars, they entered the sweat lodge lightly dressed at 3 p.m.

Two hours later, a woman dialed 911 to say that two people, whom Waugh identified as Brown and Shore, did not have a pulse and weren’t breathing.

Kirby Brown, who grew up in Brooklyn and Westtown and spent time in Mexico, saw the outing as a chance to continue on a positive path in life.

And from the New York Times here:

The cost of the retreat was listed on Mr. Ray’s Web site as $9,695 per person. In it, he says its participants will “experience a new technologically-enhanced form of meditation that creates new neurological pathways.”

New-age religion claims two more stupid victims. James Ray should go to jail both for murdering these two people and for being a scam artist, as the only “harmonic wealth” that was being created in that sweat lodge was his own. And hey- James Ray the motivational speaker has already killed more people than James Earl Ray. How about that? For another story of a dead stupid woman/man on a quest for spiritual enlightenment and going about it the wrong way, click here.


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